I’ve seen my fair share of concerts over
the years. There has been a wide variety of different approaches to musical
entertainment and how it has been presented.
I’ve seen small community centre shows with
local bands. I’ve seen top-billed stars of the industry in stadiums.
This past weekend I saw a marriage of both
of these ideas: The YB Garage Concert.
So Sunny and I head out to this obscure
industrial park. Every street was filled with both functioning and abandoned
factories. We even stopped by a little café for a light dinner that, while not
in an actual factory, was factory themed.
Most concerts I’ve been to have huge
parking lot and staff to guide the ridiculous amounts of traffic going in, then
out again like ten people trying to get through the same door at once. There
was no parking lot; the building manager just said to park anywhere close by
and it wouldn’t be a problem.
After the hip and trendy meal, we walked
down the street (lined with piles of trash as it was industrial waste pick up
day). As we got closer, we saw more and more people sitting on the side of the
road drinking single translucent cups of beer. This was a mighty trail of
breadcrumbs to follow.
The cups were coming from, and moving back
towards this run-down factory. It had to be the place. The giant banner stating
that it was the place was also a big hint.
Sunny had a soft beverage and I went for
the only awesome drink I could have and legally drive after, energy drink
(BURRRRNNN!!!). The crowd was herded into the processing floor like cattle. Seriously,
anything could have happened in that sketchy room and we would have walked
right into it.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a killing floor, but
a tightly pack, very small, very intimate stage set up. It was one of the
smallest stages I’ve seen a big name band play on, but it took up about have of
the room.
The show began with a striptease… a male
strip tease. It was a beefed up Asian version of Magic Mike. Sunny enjoyed it.
When the Korean Chippendales finished their schtick, the band came out to a
very loud opening number. The acoustics were terrible, the room was stuffy, and
I never want to go to a different kind of concert again. It was that freakin’
awesome.
The dancers had two main reasons: to set
the tone for the night (19 and over) and to set up a joke. Frontman Yoon
Do-hyun took a dig at the guitarist, Huh Joon, saying they were from his
contacts. Nice.
Speaking of which, have you ever been to a
concert with a keg for the band on stage? I have! The band drank through the
whole show. 19 and over…
One of the highlights of the show was the
light attitude of the performers (keg on stage) and how the audience mostly
felt like they were just having fun with the band. To make up for how hot and
stuffy it was, the band occasionally hosed the crowd down. Several people left
happily soaked. Yoon Do-hyun ended the show by turning the hose on himself.
All in all, it was a great show, not just
for Korean music, but for any given rock band. I think any Rock musician around
the world could learn something from that show.
I just hope they have another like it.
